Rail anchor



Jan. 12, 1937. G. L. MOORE ET AL 2,067,276

RAIL ANCHOR Filed Sept. 21, 1933 Patented Jan. 12, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE RAIL ANCHOR Application September 21, 1933, Serial No. 690,354

4 Claims.

Our invention relates to rail anchors and particularly to anchors for resisting the longitudinal creeping of railroad rails.

One of the objects of our invention is to provide a one-piece anchor which is easily applied to a rail, which efliciently grips the rail base flange and which cooperates with a stationary member of the roadbed to resist the creeping of the rail.

Another object of our invention is to provide a rail anchor which will check the longitudinal creeping of the rail in either direction of tramc.

A further object of our invention is to provide a one-piece rail anchor which is adaptable to rails having base flanges of difierent widths.

The novel features of our invention will be more fully understood from the following description and claims taken with the drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a portion of a railway track structure with our improved rail anchor;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the structure shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the anchor;

Fig. 4 is a side view of modified anchor;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 55 of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 shows a modification of the spike engaging end of the anchor.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawing; I4 designates a rail, I5 a cross tie, I! a railroad spike and [8 one of the rail anchors which is the subject of our invention.

The anchor l8 comprises a U-shaped end member [9 having notches 20 and 2| in the legs thereof to receive the flange of a rail. These legs have shoulders 22 and 23 and 24 and 25 adjacent the notches 20 and 2| respectively, which constitute jaws for engaging the upper and lower surfaces of the rail base flange, respectively. The other end of the anchor is notched at 26 to provide a hook 21 which is adapted to pass around a spike beneath its head. The anchor is preferably provided intermediate its ends with a compensating member 28 which permits a wave motion in the rail to which the anchor is applied without transmitting such motion from the rail engaging portions to the other end of the anchor which engages the spike 29.

In the anchor shown in Figs. 4 and 5 the notches 30 and 3| are formed in the legs of the U-shaped member by pressing the material back into the legs and also laterally thereof as shown at 32 and 33. The pressing of the notches in the legs produces widened rail engaging jaws or shoulders 34 and 35 and 36 and 31 respectively.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 the anchor is applied to the rail by placing the hook 21 of the anchor in engagement with the spike 29, beneath its head, the spike having been withdrawn 2, short distance, if the anchor is being applied to old trackage, or before the spike has been driven to its final position, if it is being applied to new trackage. The end I9 is brought to the position indicated in dotted lines in Figure 1, that is with the notches 2i) and 2| receiving the rail base flange and the shoulders 23'. and 24 engaging the upper surface of the rail base flange and the shoulders 23 and 25 engaging the under side of the rail base flange. The anchor is then forced to its operative position as indicated in full lines, by a blow from a hammer or by any other well known means.

The spike engaging end of the anchor may be formed with a substantially straight slot 38 to receive the shank of the spike 29, as shown in Fig. 6, instead of with the slot 26 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 which is offset interiorly to provide the hooked end portion 27.

When the anchor is in its operative position on the rail any tendency on the part of the rail to creep longitudinally due to the passage of traflic thereover in either direction is restrained owing to the double grip on the rail base flange and due to the other end of the anchor being held in its operative position with respect to the roadbed by its engagement with the shank of the spike 29.

The passage of trafiic over the track causes a waving action of the rail and we have provided our anchor with a compensating member 28 which is adapted to flex under such conditions and therefore prevents such waving action to be transmitted through the anchor to the spike.

From the foregoing description it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that we have devised an improved one-piece anchor which is simple in construction, which is easily applied to the rail base flange and which efiiciently grips same to check the tendency of the rail to creep in either direction of traffic. Our device is particularly adaptable to rails having base flanges of different widths as it grips only one side of the flange of a rail, and therefore its gripping ability is not affected by the changes in widths of base flanges.

While we have shown our invention in a plurality of forms, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various other changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof, and we desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior art or as are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a railway track structure a tie, a rail mounted on said tie, a spike for said rail mounted in said tie intermediate its edges, a rail anchor mounted entirely to one side of the rail comprising a resilient rail engaging end portion engaging one base flange of the rail only at one side of said tie and an end portion having spike engaging means terminating adjacent said spike, said spike engaging means having a transverse slot whereby the anchor may be assembled with the rail without removing the spike from the tie.

2. In a railway track structure, a tie, a rail mounted on said tie, a spike for said rail, a rail anchor mounted entirely on one side of the rail base flange and having one end terminating over said tie for resisting the longitudinal movement of said rail, said anchor comprising a U-shaped notched rail engaging portion gripping one base flange of the rail and a hooked spike engaging end portion having a transverse slot for receiving the shank of the spike, said engaging portion terminating adjacent said spike.

3. A rail anchor comprising a vertical U-shaped rail engaging end portion having notches in the side edges thereof and. an end portion adapted to engage a member of the roadbed of a railway track structure, said rail engaging portion having thickened portions adjacent said notches adapted to grip the rail.

4. An anchor comprising a substantially straight body portion having a transverse slot receptive of a spike shank at one end thereof, an inverted U-shaped intermediate portion at the other end of the body portion and extending into a depending U-shaped portion having a notch in each leg receptive of the edge of the rail flange and adapted to grip the rail flange.

GEORGE LOOP MOORE. JAMES ROBERT STEELE.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

January 12, 1957.

Patent No. 2,067,276.

GEORGE LOOP MOORE, ET AL.

tified that error appears in the printed specification of iring correction as follows Page 2, second. column, line 5, claim 2, before the word "engaging insert spike; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed. and sealed. this 2nd day of March, A. D. 1937.

It is hereby oer the above numbered patent requ Henry Van Arsdale Acting Commissioner of Patents.

(Seal) 

